Pinterest Experiment: Candy Sleighs

To be honest, I'm cheating a little bit for this post. I made these candy sleighs back in December, but since I doubt I'll be making anything before month end and they're cute, I decided what the hell.

I will start with a little background on why I was making these sleighs. Last year around Christmas time my mom decided to do a secret Santa thing for her and her two coworkers in her office. So for the week she'd bring in little treats each day. Candy, hot chocolate, cupcakes (mostly thought of and prepared by me). Just little things to make the week leading up to Christmas a little more festive. This week was affectionately named "Chrismukkah" by one of her coworkers. This Christmas however, there were 5 of them in the office and my mom thought that would get too expensive for her to come up with presents for everyone each day. Much to her coworkers dismay ("no Chrismukkah???":( haha). Then they had the brilliant idea of having everyone be assigned one day of Chrismukkah. They were given a limit of about $2 per person but other than that they had no restrictions. My mom's day was the last one, and as soon as she told me about this, I knew we had to make these sleighs.
So, initial pin I found was this one.

Aren't they cute? The link in the pin goes nowhere. Literally just pulls up a bigger version of the picture in another screen. But the picture basically tells you everything you need to know anyways.
Kit Kats seem to be the perfect size for the base of the sleigh. Hot glue the candy cane "runners" to the bottom of the Kit Kat. I found it easiest to put the Kit Kat upside down on the edge of the table with the "hook" end of the candy cane hanging over the edge. Makes it easier to balance everything when you only have 2 hands and no one to help (ok, I could've asked but my mother probably would've just gotten in my way haha).
Then we got thin, mint chocolate bars and ran 3 length wise across the Kit Kat. I just dabbed 3 little dots of glue down the bar and stuck in on. On top of that there were 3 of the Hershey's miniatures bars (dark, milk and crackle) one on top of two on top of the mint bars.

Tadaaaa! Hmm, seems like something's missing. I know! Let's add some ribbon and a sleigh driver! We were going to find little Santa Clauses but we couldn't find any that seemed to fit. And then I found little Lindor bears!

Final product. If I had known we were going to have a little driver I would have put the chocolate bars closer to the back of the sleigh to give him a little more room to sit up. We had to lay him down because there wasn't enough space. Other than that though I think they turned out pretty well. My mom's coworkers seemed to like them :) though I think they may have just been happy it was chocolate lol. We managed to spend around $10 for all 5 I believe. I forget the exact total. But I even got some candy out of it :). That's what I get for being a helpful elf.
So hopefully this gave you an idea for something you could do for Christmas next year. And stay tuned for my Pinterest attempt next month. I'm not going to say what it is yet, mostly because I'm not totally sure at this point.
Happy crafting!

Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

My sister Kaley, of Books Etc, told me that her virtual blog friend from Just a lil lost was doing a Harry Potter ReRead this year. Since it’s been a while since I’ve read the books (or any book really), I decided to give it a go.

Here's the post that explains the reread.

In the past couple years I finally ended up getting the whole series in hardcover. I had the first three in paperback and since I read them so many times and had owned them for so long they were slowly starting to fall apart, my mom bought the hardcovers for me. Normally I would wait to buy the books in paperback because they were cheaper, but the last three I got pre ordered so I got them in hardcover. I also own the Hogwarts Library set, which includes Quidditch through the Ages, The Tales of Beedle and the Bard, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I have the Harry Potter Film Wizardry (because I was impatient, it's not the updated one that includes the last movie, sad) and the Harry Potter Page to Screen. I have actually yet to finish any of these (bad, I know). So hopefully I'll be able to include them into this reread and finish them this year.

I’m just going to state that throughout the course of this post and the ones for the following books I will probably say things that would be considered spoilers. However I figure if you haven’t read or at least seen the movies by now, you probably never will and I don’t care. Also don’t know why you’d be reading this post otherwise.

But in case you haven't read it, and are still going to read the post, I shall provide you with the synopsis. 

Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a Cloak of Invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny cupboard under the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in ten years.
But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter.

That...really doesn't tell you much. Well then. Onto the review of the reread.

First point of notice, this book was way shorter than I remember. It took me maybe 6 hours to read it, and that was just on breaks and at work. Heehee probably shouldn’t have been reading, but when you are all by yourself and literally have nothing else to do, it keeps you from going insane.

As short as the book felt, I still loved it just as much as the first time I read it. Although I read a few of the lines with the actors’ voices, I managed to not compare it in my head.

I love how innocent and immature the three of them are. I know that they went through stuff that no one should have to, but they just have this youthful, troublemaking innocence that I love.

While reading, Kaley texted me her “duh” moment, that Lily and Petunia are sisters, and both named after flowers. I thought it was kind of funny, though I don’t think I realized it either. My “duh” moment was at the end of the book when I realized why Quirrell could shake Harry’s hand on his birthday (even though he didn’t in the movie) but not touch him in the final chamber. He says something along the lines of his master was so upset with him for not being able to steal the stone that he decided to keep a closer eye on him. Meaning he wasn’t the man with two faces until after that day in Diagon Alley.

I've probably read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at least half a dozen times, if not more. I tried to reread the series each time a new book came out, sometimes even when the new movie was coming out as well.

I can't decide if I want to rewatch the movies after each book, or if I want to wait until the end and try and watch them all in one go. I'm thinking it will probably be at the end of the reread. 

Next month will be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which I have to say I'm not really super excited to read. It's one of my least, if not very least, favourite of all the books. I think that actually seems to be the consensus that people like the second book less than the rest. I can't even really give you a reason why I don't like it as much. Perhaps I'll be able to at the end of February. 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post and are enjoying the read along as well if you're participating. Come back next month for my next reread post. 

Pinterest Experiments

I've decided that I'm going to try something new, and every month (hopefully) do a post of something I've tried from Pinterest. It can be a craft, food, nail design, anything that I've seen on Pinterest and tried to recreate.

For those of you that don't know what Pinterest is, it's basically like a giant online cork board. You basically have boards for as many categories as you'd like (food, clothes, crafts, nerd stuffs, etc etc) and "pin" or post related pictures or recipes or tutorials to the board. It's mildly addicting.
I have a bunch of recipes and crafts that I've pinned that I really should try and make, which is why I've decided to do this.
My plan is to post the original pin, and the recipe or instructions, and then add a picture of how my version turns out, and a brief explanation of how the creation went. I have a feeling quite a few of them will turn out as "pinstrosities". If you would like to know what a pinstrosity is, check out this website.
As it is almost the end of the month, and I just decided to do this now, I may or may not actually have an experiment for January. If I find something relatively easy that doesn't take a lot of planning, I'll have something by the end of the month.
Until then, happy pinning :) haha

New Year's Resolutions and a Look Back at 2013

Alright so the first part of that title might be a lie. I've decided like for the past few years, I'm not going to make resolutions. I always say I will and then never follow through. Or I make them and fail miserably. I could say I'm going to do lots of things this year; read more, work out more (ok, at all), blog more, be a better friend/girlfriend/sister/daughter, eat less crap, keep my house clean, take more pictures, travel, just all around do more, figure out what the eff I'm going to do with my life. I'm just too pathetic and lazy to actually follow through. And I hate it but it s true.

So I figure if I don't make resolutions, I can't fail.

So now onto the second part of the title. Looking back on 2013. I felt like it was uneventful. And I honestly can't even remember what all I did. And sadly I just went on Facebook to see if looking at pictures would remind me, and I have not put many photos up. Ok let's see,

January

Not a whole heck of a lot happened. I was unemployed. Which sucked. Took pictures for Josh at his wrestling shows. 

February

Still unemployed. Still sucked. From what I can recall, nothing super exciting happened. 

March

I made banana cream pie for the first time for Josh's birthday. Went to a cruise ship workshop. That has gotten me no closer to a decision. Also took a photography course. Which has not gotten me any better at taking pictures. 

April

I turned 23. Super exciting... Started this blog. That seems to be going nowhere. Started ropes job (again). 

May

I moved to Collingwood. 

June

Rode a Segway. Pool party with people from work. 

July

Got a freaking flat tire. Apparently my July was not eventful at all.

August

I went to fan expo. That was an adventure. My soccer team also won the championship. 

September

Created 2 cupcake bouquets. Went to BP (shocker) for Amberella's birthday. Went to the Great Northern Exhibition (Collingwood fall fair) with some girls from work. 

October

Run for the cure! I raised $450 and ran almost the whole 5km run. 

November

I started a new job (post on that to hopefully follow eventually). Went to Toronto for my sister's event and my uncles's soccer game. My first unofficially official photography gig haha. 

December

This was frickin last month and I don't even remember what I did. I got an iPad. Not exactly newsworthy. Oh, went to St. Catharines to visit my sister. And Christmas. Obviously. 

Took a lot of pictures, but really not as many as I should have. Baked a crap ton of cupcakes this year. I'd hazard a guess at at least 12 batches. Hiked the mountain once a week all summer. 

So that's last year in a nutshell (what I can remember at least). How's your reflection on last year? Do you have any resolutions for 2014?

Upcoming January Movie Releases

I fail. I seem to always forget when the end of the month is coming up. I actually would have forgotten to leave rent if my land lady hadn't sent me a message reminding me it was the first.
But the point of this post is not my crappy memory. It's time for upcoming movies!
I think January is going to be rather disappointing, I haven't heard about many movies coming out but let's just see shall we?
Yep. January sucks for both theatre and DVD releases. Absolutely nothing coming out that I want to see.
Well this has proven to be a very uneventful blog post. I apologize for that. But really Hollywood should apologize, it's their fault for coming out with a bunch of crappy movies and no good ones.
Are there any movies that you're looking forward to this month?